


The Pathless Woods

by Indig0



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Coworkers to friends, Gen, General Confusion about Life, Giant/Tiny, Mini RK900, Social Anxiety, making a friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:08:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23984338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indig0/pseuds/Indig0
Summary: The RK900 was produced as a pocket investigative assistant focused on crime scene analysis and sample processing.  He's gloomy and standoffish, unlike Connor, which doesn't make him a popular field partner, but Tina volunteers to take him on a case and spends some time bonding with the miniature android after they finish up.
Relationships: Tina Chen & Upgraded Connor | RK900, background Connor & Hank Anderson, background Tina Chen & Gavin Reed
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	The Pathless Woods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Archadian_Skies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archadian_Skies/gifts).



“Listen up,” Fowler snapped, quieting the room instantly. “I’ve got five cases that just came in, and two are going to need on-site analysis capabilities.”

“I’ve got the double homicide up north,” Gavin spoke up quickly.

“…We’re classifying it as a murder-suicide for now,” Fowler said, frowning.

“Doubt it.” Reed grabbed his jacket and tablet and left.

“We’ll take one of the analysis cases, Captain,” Connor offered, and Hank nodded.

“Yes, you will. Take the one down by the docks. Definitely android involvement, but we’re not sure what.”

Connor and Hank headed out.

“So I’ll need someone else to take the RK900 for the other one. It’s on the west side, a whole pile of dead androids found in an abandoned house, drained of thirium.”

After a brief moment of all the remaining officers shuffling and avoiding Fowler’s stare, Officer Chen looked up.

“I’ll take it.”

“Thank you,” Fowler muttered. “Get going.”

Grabbing her tablet, Tina headed down to the archive room. “RK900?”

“How can I help you, Officer Chen?”

“I’ve got a case that’s gonna need some heavy-duty analysis, you up for it?”

“Of course.”

“You want to, um… ride on my shoulder or something?” she asked awkwardly.

“That would be acceptable.” The RK900 walked across the examining table and made his way up her arm in a series of nimble leaps.

“You okay up here?” Tina asked as they headed to the crime scene.

“I’m equipped for unsteady surfaces.”

“Yeah… but you don’t mind? It’s… comfortable enough?”

“It isn’t objectionable.” The small android paused. “The last time I worked a case with Detective Reed, he had me hold onto his handcuffs on his belt. I… prefer this.”

Tina made a face. Gavin and a few other officers were creeped out by RK900 because of… his size, his demeanor, how much he looked like Connor… the list went on. And honestly they had a point, but if they working a case together wasn’t the time to take those things out on him. “Well… just don’t fall off. And if he does that again, cuff him to his belt for being an asshole.”

There was a small flash of yellow. “It didn’t interfere with the case.”

“Anything that negatively affects your well-being negatively affects the case,” Tina recited, thinking back to her early days at the precinct. “And he’s actually capable of not being a jerk. Despite what you’d think.”

“All right,” RK900 murmured. She wasn’t convinced that he agreed, or that he’d stand up for himself next time, but she let it drop for now.

When they arrived at the abandoned house Officer Chen started interviewing the one witness, a young man who’d been exploring and called as soon as he found the bodies. RK900 headed down to the basement to start collecting data. When Tina finished she did a cursory search of the building before heading down the stairs.

There were at least a dozen deactivated androids piled on one side of the room. After a moment she spotted RK900 up on the high windowsill.

“What’s up there?”

He turned quickly away from the window. “Nothing. I’ve finished what I need to do here.”

“Yeah? So what’ve we got? I found a bunch of machinery and… I want to say it’s some kind of refinery equipment upstairs, the guy didn’t know anything.”

“…Thirium refinery.” RK900 nodded solemnly. “There are fifteen dead androids, a variety of models, all drained completely of thirium.”

Tina’s nose wrinkled. “Making red ice?”

“That was my assumption, and the refinery equipment upstairs confirms that. I’ve taken down serial numbers.”

“Think they’ll come back any time soon?”

The tiny android looked over his shoulder out the window again. “Perhaps.”

Tina sighed, texting Fowler. “Okay. We’ll move the car and watch for a while, if nobody shows we can come back later.” She stuck her phone back in her pocket and offered her hand, and RK900 strode down it to her shoulder.

She moved the car behind some bushes and sat back to wait. “You want any music?”

“What kind do you like?”

“I don’t care, whatever you want.” She was a little curious, actually. Connor liked what Hank listened to, but RK900 kept to himself and didn’t seem to have many outside influences.

The stereo came on and crackled around a bit until it settled on a surprisingly bright song with few lyrics but a strong beat and clear tones.

“…What is this?”

“Ah - folktronica downtempo,” RK900 mumbled. “It’s rather difficult to find, but it’s… interesting, and… calming.”

Tina nodded slowly. “It’s - I think I like it, I’ve just never heard something like this before. You listen to a lot of music?”

“Some. Connor made some recommendations when I arrived. I… don’t share his tastes.”

Tina snorted. “He got all his tastes from Lieutenant Anderson, that’s why he’s such a disaster.”

“They - Connor and Lieutenant Anderson are… both admirable people,” RK900 said quietly.

“Sure, I’m not saying they’re not. They’re great. Doesn’t mean everybody has to like their metal screeching shit.”

“I don’t,” RK900 admitted with a sigh.

“Is that why you don’t go home with them?” Tina laughed.

“Connor said I would be welcome. I went with them once.”

“Not your thing?”

The small android frowned. He opened his mouth twice, closing it each time. Then he shook his head and looked out the window.

Tina looked at him closely. “…They were nice to you, weren’t they?” She couldn’t imagine they wouldn’t be.

“Of course, they were both very welcoming,” RK900 said quickly. “They showed me around, and made me up a bed on a pillow in the living room. Connor said… because we’re in the same series, I was almost like… a younger brother.”

She watched him. He definitely seemed distressed. “Did you… not want that?”

“I - I’m not sure. I hardly know what that would even be. He and Lieutenant Anderson talked and watched a basketball game, and then went to bed. In the morning we returned to work.”

“You didn’t go back?”

“Is this really any of your concern, Officer Chen?”

“Okay, I get it, it’s not. Just asking.”

“…I don’t know what to say,” he muttered, almost too quietly for her to hear. “I don’t feel I have much in common with other androids, having always been deviant and being… so much smaller. And everyone at the precinct seems… to enjoy… working there. In general.”

She stared at him. “You hate your job?”

He sighed, not looking at her.

“Would you rather do… fieldwork, like… beat cop stuff? Because -”

“No. I’d be capable, but no,” he snapped.

“Okay. Okay, well - shit, look.” A man had ridden up on a bicycle and was going into the house. “…Let’s bust this guy and get things wrapped up for now, okay?”

“Of course. I’ve called for backup.”

RK900 followed the suspect to the basement through a vent and disarmed him before he knew what was happening. When he tried to flee, Tina was waiting for him at the top of the stairs. They had him waiting cuffed when backup arrived.

“Nice job today,” Tina said as they followed the transport vans back to the station.

“You as well. Would you mind if I filed the report, or would you like to?”

“Go ahead, you’ll have it done before we get back.” She told him the witness’s limited account, and he shared the models with her.

“Not as many domestics as I expected,” she muttered. “They usually have it pretty bad, and their defenses aren’t great.”

“There weren’t many signs of struggle. I expect he lured them there and… incapacitated them.”

“Yeah, that’s… pretty messed up.”

“No more than anything else we see every day.”

“No, I guess not.” She sighed as they parked.

RK900 stood stiffly on Fowler’s desk when they met for a quick debriefing. Tina carried him back and set him on her desk while she shuffled around some things afterwards.

“So, got any plans tonight?” she asked, grabbing her bag and jacket.

“I’ll charge in the archive room -”

“Nah, you wanna come to my place for the night?”

She didn’t miss the flash of red. “Why?”

“Just so you can get out of here for a while. I’d bash my head into a wall if I had to stay here 24/7. No screaming music, no basketball games, I won’t invite Gavin over.”

“What… do you want me to do…?”

“Whatever you want. If you wanna take some time to yourself I’ll give you some privacy, or we can hang out.”

“I… I don’t think I’m… adept at hanging out…”

“You’re young, you can learn.” Tina grinned.

They stopped on the way home to pick up a couple packets of thirium. Tina’s apartment was brighter than Lieutenant Anderson’s home, and cleaner, if only because there was no carpet, no large dog, and no years of accumulation of grime.

“So… living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom.” She pointed around the apartment. “I don’t have a balcony, that was an extra $300 a month. Um - do you want a drink or anything?”

“I’m all right, thank you.” RK900 clung to Tina’s shoulder, analyzing the apartment.

“I feel like I’m not around enough for a cat or dog or anything, but I’ve got a bunch of plants - some of them are pretty good at staying alive. And this is Tuna.” She pointed to 5 gallon aquarium on the counter, full of caves and plants. A pale pink betta fish with purple splotches floated lazily in the middle, ignoring her. “They’re supposed to be super aggressive, but I’ve never seen him flare up.”

“He must be very relaxed here, then,” RK900 said quietly.

“I’m gonna grab something to eat, you can watch TV or hang out with me,” Tina said casually, stretching out an arm to the couch. He hesitated, but stayed where he was, and she headed to the kitchen. She hummed bits of songs as she heated up some pasta, and ate it standing at the counter.

“You okay?”

“I’m all right.”

“We’ve got the whole night. Well - at least a couple hours until I crash. What do you want to do?”

“I - please, don’t let me distract you from your normal routine.”

Tina chewed thoughtfully. “You haven’t been active too long, have you?”

“A few months.”

“And you’ve only been outside the station once? …Aside from work?”

“Correct. …Though Connor and Lieutenant Anderson talked about work a great deal.”

“God. Okay. I guess it’s hard to know what you like or what you want when you… haven’t really done much, huh?”

“Yes!” He suddenly stood up straight and frowned. “Yes, I’m always told I can do whatever I want, that I’m deviant, that I should have… interests, hobbies, desires, preferences! I -” His shoulders hunched and he seemed to shrink down a bit. “I apologize, it’s just… frustrating at times.”

“Hell yeah, it is! You’re mad about it, get mad! What the hell do they expect from you?”

“…I’m the most advanced android Cyberlife ever built, and… and my predecessor was so successful in… living -”

“So? I’m a complete disappointment to my family, it doesn’t mean my little brother’s not everything they ever wanted him to be. You’re not Connor. You don’t have to listen to Hank’s metal, you don’t have to be great with people, you don’t have to work for law enforcement. You can run off and live in the woods. Figure out what makes you happy and do that.”

He was staring at her, wide-eyed.

“I get not knowing what you want, I feel that way all the time. But you get all kinds of time off you’re not using, why not just start trying things until you find something better?”

“I - Captain Fowler -”

“Fuck him. …I mean give him two weeks’ notice if you can, obviously. He - he’s a hardass, but I know he’s not like… trying to fuck you over or anything, right?”

RK900 nodded slowly. “I… could run off and live in the woods?”

She put her fork down. “Does that sound good?”

“I’d be so out of place,” he murmured.

“Nah, just get yourself some new clothes, you’d do fine. You could beat up a hawk or a raccoon if they gave you trouble. Build yourself a little house up in a tree or something - I think that sounds cool.”

His LED was solid yellow. “I’ve hardly even seen a tree up close,” he murmured. “Only today…”

Tina stood up and rinsed her dishes off before putting them in the dishwasher. “Let’s take a walk, you up for it? There’s a park a couple blocks away. Not a real forest or anything, but you could get a feel for it. What do you say?”

“Ah - all right. If you want to…”

“I do.” She grabbed her jacket and held out her hand for him, and he quickly climbed to her shoulder.

The evening was slowly cooling off, and it was a short walk to the park. There were a few small children running around the playground, tired parents watching from the sidelines. A small group of joggers passed by. Tina headed to a few trees on the other side, and as soon as she was close enough the tiny android jumped from her shoulder to a branch. She watched him climb around a bit.

“How is it?”

“I - it’s all right. The atmosphere is different than the wooded area where we spend the day…”

“We can find you somewhere like that. Hell, it’s a crime scene now but if you wanted to go back -”

“No,” he cut her off sharply. “I don’t… want to see that house again.”

“Okay,” she agreed softly, remembering all the specifics he’d had on the dead androids. “There are plenty of other places, though. Do some searching, and we can check things out in person if you find something good.”

“Really?”

“Sure, I need to get out more anyway. Whenever I’m off. It’ll be fun!” She grinned, and he smiled back tentatively. “And you need to read The Borrowers series. They made a few movies about it, most of them are pretty good. Uh - plenty of movies and books about people going to live in the wilderness.”

RK900 stood still, perfectly balanced on a branch, LED blinking yellow. “I think I could like that way of life,” he said after a moment, his smile growing.

“Start planning, then! And listen, you can always move on somewhere else, do something different. Live on a boat for a while, take a flight somewhere. Start an onion farm. Whatever sounds good. You’re not stuck with one thing forever.”

He hopped down lightly onto her shoulder, and she turned towards home as the sun went down.

“Besides, that’d give me more excuses to get out of the city. I could visit sometimes! …If you’re okay with that.”

“Of course! I - I’d… like that!”

She grinned. “Good! …You gonna talk to Connor about it?”

He blinked. “Would he want to know?”

“I mean… if he said you could be like brothers…”

“He did, but then he hasn’t spoken to me since, aside from… exchanging basic greetings. I - I’ve been… afraid to bring it up.”

Tina exhaled. “Okay. Sounds like maybe he was waiting to see if you’d… take the lead with that, and then just didn’t do anything else about it.”

“You think I should talk to him?”

“Yeah. Yeah, definitely.”

He nodded morosely.

“I think he’ll understand, communication’s hard.”

RK900 said something too quiet for her to hear.

“What?”

“I - would you… be with me? If you have time?”

“Wh - oh! Sure, yeah! I don’t think he’ll be mad, though.”

The small android winced. “Maybe not. I… find it difficult to… stand against others, though. Even if they’re… not angry.”

“Hey, no.” Tina offered her hand, and he hesitantly stepped into it. She hugged him to her neck. “You’re not standing against anybody. You’re not even disagreeing with him, right? He said he wants to have a closer relationship with you. You can tell him no, or you can tell him yes, but that doesn’t make you enemies if you’re not brothers.”

“I don’t… I’m not opposed to the idea, I just - I froze.”

“That, I’m pretty sure he’ll understand. Just talk to him. I’ll go with you. …But save that for some other day, don’t get too bogged down thinking about it. Tonight we’re gonna relax, put on a nature documentary and some of your music, and look up forests in the area. There are tons of state parks around the Great Lakes. Okay?”

She felt him nod hesitantly and press closer to her. “…Okay.”

“Good. And if you get sick of it and want to do something else, or just want to sleep, let me know and we’ll do that. I don’t mind. I’ll stick with you, got it?”

“Got it.” He hugged her fingers as she walked back to her apartment.


End file.
